Shoe-form.



PATENTED JULY 10, 1906.

J. A. NILES. SHOE FORM. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27, 1906.

THE NORRIS PETERS ca.. WASHINGTON, 0. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SHOE-FORM- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 10, 1906.

Application filed January 27,1906. Serial No. 298,126.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, JAMES A. NILES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Forms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to shoe-forms for boots and shoes, and more particularly to that type of shoe-form made of light sheet material and generally used for followers in shoe factories or insertion in boots and shoes for display purposes.

The object of the present invention is to so construct a two-part pivoted shoe-form made of light material as to permit a slight lateral yielding at the union or joint between the embodying the present invention.

parts,thus to a certain extent to accommodate the shoe-form to varying widths of the shanks of boots and shoes, and, further, to provide such a form with a bail pivotally connected thereto and the union or joint and in position to be grasped by the operator for the purpose of facilitating its insertion into the shoe and its removal therefrom.

To the above ends the present invention consists of the improved shoe-form, which will now be described and claimed.

The present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows a plan view of a shoe-form Fig. 2 shows a transverse sectional view on the broken line a; 33, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the spring-bail removed.

Similar reference characters will be used throughout the specification and drawings to designate corresponding parts. i

The improved shoe-form comprises a fore part a and a heel part b, which are formed and molded of some suitable sheet material, preferably vulcanized or indurated fiber, and formed hollow or open at the bottom parts, as shown. The parts a and b have, respectively, the overlapping shank portions a and t, and they are pivotally connected by rivets a, passing throu h the overlapping sections and clenched or lieaded, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Pivotally mounted upon the rivets c is a spring-bail d, which extends from side to side across the shank portion of the form at the pivotal points and which is preferably bowed upwardly, as clearly shown in the drawings. This bail d is referably made of tempered sheet-steel, suc as clock-springs are made of; but it could, of course,be made of spring-wire. The ends of the bail (1 press against the opposite sides of the shank portions and hold the sides yieldingly in normal position; but of course the bail (1 will yield to compression laterally, and thus permit a slight narrowing of the shank portion of the form, whereby it may accommodate itself to various widths of shoes.

It will be observed that the form is so constructed that the heel-section b may turn upward and forward to shorten the form to facilitate its insertion into and removal from a boot or shoe, and that the bail (1 may be engaged by a finger of the operator and pressure exerted thereon toward the toe portion of the shoe, thus enabling the fore part of the form to be forced snugly into the fore part of the shoe, and that, furthermore, this bail can be engaged for the purpose of withdrawing the form from the shoe. It has been observed in practice that a pressure in a forward direction upon this pivoted bail has a tendency to draw its pivoted ends together, and thus to contract or narrow the shank portion of the form and greatly facilitate the proper seating of the fore part and the shank and heel part in the shoe. When released, of course, the spring-bail will at once press outwardly, and thus distend and more propeflly shape the shank portion of the form and s 0e.

Having described my invention, I claim as 1 JAMES A. NILES.

Witnesses:

T. HART ANDERSON, MAY A. KENNEY. 

